


This is a Hypothesis

by tonight_aliv



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-09
Updated: 2014-09-09
Packaged: 2018-02-16 17:05:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2277783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonight_aliv/pseuds/tonight_aliv
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaito wakes up in a very... compromising situation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This is a Hypothesis

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted to tumblr on Sept 21st, 2013.

His bleary eyes opened at the gentle movement, and it took him a moment to adjust to the strange way gravity was pulling at his body. The left side of his face rested uncomfortably against the seams of a dress shirt, and he could easily feel the tug of shoulder tendons pull against his subtly shifting weight. They stiffened when he moved his gaze, his blue eyes finding the profile of a very familiar, very solemn face.

And his mind fully awoke to the desperate need to flee.

He instinctively pushed away from Chris’ chest, kicking wildly. Despite the steady hands that held him in place, he heard a low grunt erupt from Chris as they tumbled— almost in slow motion— into each other and onto the cold linoleum floor. Those same sturdy hands flew to Chris’ long shins, and he grimaced as he attempted to rub away the shooting pain that erupted when his bony knees hit the unforgiving floor. He didn’t bother to spare a glance at Kaito, lying on the ground with a similar grimace on his face.

"What was that?" Kaito hissed, grabbing at the back of his head, threading the ungloved ends of his fingers into his blond hair.

Chris sighed, “You passed out at the super computer. Your little brother asked me to bring you somewhere more comfortable.”

A scowl wormed its way between Kaito’s brows, but he checked his anger before speaking again, this time his fatigue dripping from every even syllable.

"You should have left me."

A strange silence fell between them, weighing the air with an inconsolable pressure. It enveloped them in a stillness that allowed for no new movement, for no thoughts or actions or words that could stir the tension that either could almost taste. The implications in Kaito’s words hung over their heads like an oppressive atmosphere, ready to suffocate them in regret dare they utter a single sound.

A thin strand of long blue hair fell, ever so slowly, from its rest behind Chris’ right ear. As it swayed in front of Chris, a motion so simple, a moment of such unpredictability, he roused his thoughts together again, as if the stillness were merely a thing to move past.

He had two options for retort:

He could take the easy way out. He could manage another of his soft, insincere smiles. “I wouldn’t dream of ignoring Haruto’s request,” he could say, and that would be all. Everything was for Haruto, after all. The resentment between them would concentrate, of course, but then Kaito would sigh, would stand, and would retreat. Nothing would change between them at all.

Or he could say no.

And before Chris had considered what might become of it, before he could glance at Kaito and gather a well-informed judgment of how the boy laying on the ground might react, it fell through his thin lips, as defiant and confident as he wished he could feel in this moment.

"No," he had said, and suddenly he could breathe again, as if the task hadn’t taken up a fair allotment of his energy since he had been roused from his computer screens by a light knock on the library’s door.

"No to what?" Kaito said tersely, eyes still affixed on the fluorescent lights in the ceiling.

"No, I do not think that I should have left you, Kaito."

Wide blue eyes had darted to Chris’ face before he had finished the sentence, but Kaito’s face retained its fatigued but unreadable expression despite the urgent motion. It was clear that they were trying to read each other, even though the moments of observation became minutes before either had collected nearly enough information to judge the other.

It was Kaito who broke eyes contact with a scoff, “Don’t be so dramatic. It’s embarrassing.”

The tension around them dissolved enough to allow both to carefully get back to their feet, a much more diligent and respectful position to be discussing such thinly-veiled matters in. Chris couldn’t help the awkward way the corners of his lips pulled back into something resembling neither a smirk nor a smile as he reached out a hand to help Kaito stand. The not-smile remained, even after Kaito ignored the offered hand and gazed down the hallway.

"You should sleep, Kaito."

The statement drew the addressed’s attention back to him, just like Chris knew it would, “That nap was enough. I’ll go back to parsing that data that Orbital 7 gathered. You go on ahead, if you’re tired.”

And in the blink of a sleep-laden eye, Chris’ face fell, “We could both use the rest, Kaito, and in any case, I promised Haruto, remember?”

The statement visibly caught Kaito off guard. He shifted on his feet, swaying slightly as he dropped his gaze, digesting the response in its entirety. Chris took the opportunity, gently grabbing Kaito’s shoulder as he took a step closer.

"Come on, I’ll escort you," he said with a sneer as he continued walking past.

"No—! Chris—!" he shouted, instinctively reaching out for Chris. The movement was quickly corrected, Kaito’s hand falling to rest on his hip instead, but it did not perturb the smile alight on Kaito’s face as he threw his face into his other palm. 

A quick exhale carried with it the first syllable of a laugh as Kaito shook his head in disbelief. It took him only a moment longer to compose himself enough to follow Chris down the hallway.


End file.
